Angela Onwuachi-Willig (born 1973) is an American legal scholar. She is dean and professor of law at

Boston University School of Law Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...

and an expert in

critical race theory Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goa ...

employment discrimination Employment discrimination is a form of illegal discrimination in the workplace based on legally protected characteristics. In the U.S., federal anti-discrimination law prohibits discrimination by employers against employees based on age, race, g ...

, and family law. She took the position in August 2018, having previously been the Chancellor's Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Education

Onwuachi-Willig was born in the United States and grew up in Texas. She attended Grinnell College for her bachelor's degree and graduated in 1994 Phi Beta Kappa. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan in 1997, where she was a Clarence Darrow Scholar. She was also the '' Michigan Law Review'' note editor, and an associate editor for the founding issue of the '' Michigan Journal of Race & Law''. After law school, she clerked for United States District Court Judge Solomon Oliver of the Northern District of Ohio and US Sixth Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore. She went on to receive her Ph.D. in sociology and African American studies from Yale University. She practiced law as a labor and employment associate at

Jones Day Jones Day is an American multinational law firm. As of 2021, it was the eighth largest law firm in the U.S. and the 13th highest grossing law firm in the world. Originally headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Jones Day ranks first in both M&A le ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

and Foley Hoag in Boston, Massachusetts.

Career

Onwuachi-Willig joined the faculty of the University of Iowa College of Law in 2006. In 2011, she was one of nine finalists nominated to fill three open seats with the Iowa Supreme Court. She was the youngest nominee, as well as the only woman and only member of a

racial minority The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

. She was not selected. Onwuachi-Willig subsequently joined the University of California, Berkeley, where she held the title of Chancellor’s Professor of Law. In 2018, she was named the new dean of Boston University School of Law, succeeding Maureen O'Rourke.

Awards

* AALS Derrick Bell Award (2006) *Fellow,

American Bar Foundation The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is an independent, nonprofit national research institute established in 1952 and located in Chicago. Its mission is to expand knowledge and advance justice by supporting innovative, interdisciplinary and rigorous ...

(2011) * Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Clyde Ferguson Award (2015) * Gertrude Rush Award (2016) from the Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys * John Hope Franklin, Jr., Prize (2018) from the Iowa Chapter of the National Bar Association Law and Society

Personal life

Onwuachi-Willig is married to physicist Jacob Willig-Onwuachi.

References

External links

Boston University School of Law - Faculty profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onwuachi-Willig, Angela Deans of law schools in the United States American university and college faculty deans Women deans (academic) African-American academics African-American legal scholars American legal scholars Boston University School of Law faculty University of Iowa College of Law faculty Grinnell College alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni Yale University alumni Jones Day people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 1973 births Living people